Lazy Day Crepes

My wife and I spent this Christmas in Paris, visiting museums and playing in the snow. And while the art and architecture and atmosphere are great, what really sets Paris apart is the food. Traveling on a budget, we frequented the sidewalk vendors and whole-in-the-wall sandwich shops way more than the fancy Parisian restaurants.

We were lucky to have a great little Panini/Crepe stand right by our hotel in the Latin Quarter. It was probably 4 ft by 4 ft and was painted bright yellow, with a large sign reading “Open 24 hrs a day.” In typical French fashion, it was closed a lot. BUT, when it was open, I was drawn to it like Barry Bonds to steroids.

I’ve been going into crepe withdrawals the last few months…

Ever since I saw the crepes that Liz at Veg made, I’ve been itchin’ to try them for myself. Sunday afternoon seemed as good a time as any.

It’s a simple recipe (you probably already have the stuff lying around), and they are surprisingly easy to make. I always thought you had to have one of those big flat things that I saw guys in France using. Not true.

I used a small 9″ pan, poured the batter and swirled it around until it covered the flat of the pan. A fork flips them nicely and once you get into a rhythm, you can crank ’em out pretty fast.

There are plenty of ways to stuff them after their cooked – we made some with nutella, some with strawberry preserves, some with mozzarella cheese and a few lightly sprinkled with sugar. They were all great.

I also halved the recipe from stolen moments, and it still made a ton of crepes (probably 10 or so) – more than a snack for us, so we slipped one to our lazy pooch, Oliver.

Crepes stuffed with Nutella | Photo by HealthyandLazy

Here’s what you need (for the half recipe):

3 eggs

3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup milk

1/8 cup sugar

2 tablespoons melted butter

1/8 tsp of salt (2 or 3 shakes)

1 tsp of vanilla extract

toppings (Nutella!!)

Here’s what to do:

Step 1) Mix all of the ingredients in a blender, or with a whisk, but make sure to get all the flour lumps out.

Step 2) Melt a small amount of butter in your pan before the first crepe, and then pour in about 1/4 cup of batter, swirling the pan so that the batter covers the entire flat part of the pan.

Step 3) It’s time to flip when the outsides of the crepe looks dry but the inside is still wet. This usually takes about 1-2 minutes.

Step 4) Flip and cook the other side for another 1-2 minutes.

Step 5) Remove from pan and add your favorite topping. Repeat (but don’t add butter each time, once is enough).

Ready to flip | Photo by HealthyandLazy

Ding ding done! | Photo by HealthyandLazy

I loved these crepes. They’re an anytime food – add tomatoes and mozzarella in the morning and you’ve got yourself a breakfast crepe. Add some lemon juice and sugar and you’ve got yourself an afternoon crepe. Nutella makes an awesome dessert crepe.